Lamoureaux & Johnson

From: Steven P Crawford (stevenpcrawford@juno.com)
Date: Tue Jul 18 2000 - 23:17:54 EDT

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    I was reading a book today entitled Darwinism Defeated? which featured a
    written debate between Phillip Johnson and Denis Lamoureaux (sp?).
    Johnson held to his usual position, except for a few comments that seemed
    to indicate he was vacillating from some of his ideas written in the
    early 90's. In contrast, Lamoreaux holds to a "teleological evolution"
    aka "evolutionary creationist" position, which seems to be nothing more
    than a new name given to an old idea (theistic evolution).

    A big point of tension in the debate was whether or not the idea of
    evolution, in and of itself, is anti-God and anti-theistic. Johnson's
    thesis was that the whole evolutionary hypothesis is automatically and
    inherently atheistic. To hold to evolution is to give up on God or at
    least relegate Him to the sideline or the backstage, turning Him into a
    deistical being. Lamoureaux vigorously challenged this assertion. He
    claimed that, while some scientists have believed this (e.g. Richard
    Dawkins), it is not a logical necessity for evolution to have any
    metaphysical implications one way or the other. It is strictly a
    physical theory of origins, and anyone who tries to extend it to the
    moral, spiritual, social, etc., realms is making a philosophical leap of
    logic. This would include Johnson.

    I found Lamoureaux's statements to this effect to be fascinating and
    provocative. This is such a new notion to my thinking that I'm wondering
    if it's a commonly held concept. I would appreciate anyone's critique of
    the idea that evolution -- in and of itself -- carries no necessary
    metaphysical claims either for or against God.

    Steve C.

    P.S. I think that Lamoureaux won the debate.
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